The Sacrifice
by TheFlyingPiggy
Summary: Hiccup is dying and Stoic and Toothless are are desperate. Toothless gets the opportunity to save Hiccup...at a price. Rating may change. HumanToothless/Hiccup. Not Anthro.
1. The Healer's News

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: Just thought I'd let you all know...I haven't written fanfiction in years...the last time I did I think might have been in 2008 and I haven't written all that much since then but recently I've found myself writing again. I thought I'd just warn you if you're reading it and it sounds like I'm rambling...Like I am in this A/N.

Please Enjoy!

**Chapter One:** The Healer's News

Toothless was lying at the end of Hiccup's bed. He finally had to surrender into the powers of exhaustion and was curled into a tight ball, sleeping uneasily. Stoic sat in a chair beside Hiccup's bed and felt sleep trying to take him over as well, but he was fighting it as much as he could. His hand was propping his head up now though, his neck seeming to have run out of energy. He reflected back to the last time he and Toothless were like this – when Hiccup had lost his leg years ago after the battle with that monstrosity of a dragon. He tried not to dwell on those times, but they always seemed to haunt him, as he was sure this new experience would haunt him as well.

Toothless and Hiccup had returned from flying two days ago, after only having been out flying for a few hours. Usually, when Hiccup and Toothless would be gone for half a day at least if they were able to get away with it, but when Hiccup hobbled into the house, his seventeen year old was cold, shivering, and leaning on Toothless for support in a way that he hadn't in a long time. Apparently they had gotten caught in a storm and Hiccup had told him that not only were they being pelt with freezing rain but hail as well. Stoic was ushering his son over to the fireplace, and Toothless got a fire going before Stoic was even able to grab supplies to start one.

It wasn't long before his son started to droop and lean on Toothless, from where they were sitting on the floor. Stoic thought that it was good that he was going to sleep, thought that sleep would make Hiccup's body better and get him to his old self...but that was two days ago and Hiccup still had yet to wake up.

Stoic had called the healer the day after Hiccup passed out in front of the fire and was unable to wake the boy the next day, and who was burning up when he touched him. The healer was grim as he looked Hiccup over, but then again, he had the chief looking over one shoulder, and a very possessive dragon over the other. He was nervous as he told the two his diagnosis. Pneumonia, and it seemed to be winning. The healer said that all they could do was keep him warm, slip him soup whenever possible, and hope for the best. He scurried out of the house as soon as he could, not wanting to find out if either of them were going to "shoot the messenger" and here they were.

The healer was due back today though, at Stoic's request. Just a check-up to see how his son was doing today, as opposed to yesterday. Stoic was thinking about that, about how he had to stay up to open the door for the man, when he started to drift to sleep.

When Stoic next awoke, he heard knocking and someone nudging him rather harshly in the shoulder. When he opened his eyes he saw a frustrated Night Fury staring at him and he glared at it.

"What do you want, devil?" He asked, never quite being able to let go of the habit of calling him that, especially when he was annoying him like he was now. Then Stoic heard the knocking again and jumped up, and rushed to the door. On the other side was the nervous looking healer, hold his bag up near his torso as if trying to hide, but Stoic ignored the younger man's nervousness and ushered him inside.

"H-how is my p-patient today?" He asked nervously, but he was already walking over to the boy. He might have been nervous, but he was a healer first and when he was in that mode, it was as if no one could stop him. He touched Hiccup's forehead and let out a grim hum before checking Hiccup's pulse and opening his eyelids, trying to see how they reacted to the light.

"Has Hiccup moved since yesterday?" He asked, still inspecting Hiccup, now more ignoring Stoic and Toothless, just paying attention to them for their answers. Hiccup was still breathing a little harder as he had been all day and the healer clucked his tongue at that.

"Not that I'm aware of, no." Stoic answered him, watching him closely as he lifted up Hiccup's shirt. He wasn't aware of what the healer was doing, because he wasn't a healer himself. He wished for a moment that he had learned a little more than useful herbs for burns, cuts, and scrapes as a boy. He was always going to be chief, but knowing some finer points of the other professions was part of his job as well, and he seemed to be lacking in the Healer department.

"Have you been able to get any broth in?"

"A little, and I rubbed the neck like you showed me to get him to swallow." The healer nodded at this before standing from the bed and crossing his arms. He didn't take his eyes off of Hiccup and his face was dark. He sighed before turning to the other two.

"This...this doesn't look good." He said silently. "H-Hiccup, I'm not sure he'll..." He said, slowly. He had given this news before but doing it to the chief seemed different than anyone else he had ever had to say these words to. "I'm not sure he'll make it. From the looks of it, Hiccup may very well be gone by Thuresday_._" Stoic blinked, it was Monenday. Hiccup had only a few days, if that. He looked down at Toothless. The dragon seemed as surprised as he, and he was always so surprised at how much the dragon seemed to understand, when he heard a low growl start to come from Toothless. He felt like growling himself.

"I suggest you leave now." Stoic whispered, trying to keep his own anger in check. It might not be toward the healer, but he would be the one ending up with the brunt of it if he was still here in a few minutes. The healer nodded and started to quickly put his things together into the bag he had brought, not wasting any time in getting out of the house. He scurried to the door, but after he opened the door he paused and looked back to the room where the other two still were.

"Y-you may do a sacrifice or r-ritual." He stuttered out, fully nervous again. "I may be able to do nothing, but the Gods...they may be able to help." He said, hoping he was giving the two some good advice. He finally walked out of the house, closing the door silently behind him.

In the next room, Toothless and Stoic both looked at each other and both seemed to come to a decision. The only questions that were left were when, where, and how.


	2. A Woman's Touch

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: I don't write very long chapters, and it's annoying me, but I can't seem to stop... -.-;;. Also...I'm not that good at Mythology and am relying quite a bit on the internet. To be fair though, I know that HTTYD wasn't following that much of it either, so I'm probably following it just enough for the story.

**Chapter Two:** A Woman's Touch

Stoic didn't do sacrifices often, and he liked it that way, they still did a few here or there to appease the Gods but for the most part, life had been going relatively on track for the village. The last time he did one like the one he was planning (and Toothless, but he didn't want to think about that) was before the final battle between his village and the dragons – when Hiccup had shot the Night Fury from the sky.

He tried to figure out what he was going to sacrifice, he considered a sheep or a goat, but didn't want to raise any questions in the village, by going around to every animal available, sizing them up to figure out which would best get the Gods attention. He waited until later that night to head out into the forest beside the town, to look around for a good spot. He couldn't do it in front of the town, in the usual ceremonial spot, it had to be somewhere private. Toothless was still at Hiccup's side at home and Stoic was happy about that.

Toothless would watch over his son, and with Toothless being at the house meant he wasn't here with him as he let out a yell of frustration. When did making a ritual become so hard? He fell to his knees and put his face in his palms, absentmindedly wondering if anyone in the village had heard him but not really caring.

"Gods..." He whispered, "Odin, Freya, Baldr, Dagr..." he began listing all the Gods that he thought could help, not even remembering the sacrifice anymore, just sitting on the ground praying for someone to save his son.

Someone _was_ listening to Stoic's prayers though, but instead of staying and listening to Stoic's prayers any longer she vanished into thin air and materialized in his home instead. She looked around the homey little place, noticing immediately that there was no feminine touch in this home and shook her head, as she walked into the room where a boy lie motionless. She walked over to him and watched his breathing. It was shallow and low. She looked behind her and saw the dragon in the room staring at her. He looked as though he wanted to run but wouldn't dare leave Hiccup, but then again, the dragon knew who she was, at least from stories passed down. She smiled serenely at him.

"Hello there." She said, sitting on the bed beside Hiccup, but not paying any attention to the boy anymore. "Do you know who I am?" She asked, although she knew he probably did, from the fact that he didn't try to hurt her when she entered the room. He nodded and she rolled her eyes.

"I want to know for sure," she was getting annoyed with the dragon. She didn't make trips to Midgard often, but Odr has disappeared again, and she came to Midgard, to cry in a more remote place than Asgard, but then she heard the father's plea, and whines from a creature, both praying to her people for a miracle. "I understand all languages in Midgard, speak my name in yours." She demanded.

"Freya." The dragon finally whispered silently, but then he squinted at her, "Or Loki." She laughed heartily at this and the dragon started to stiffen. He might have known better than to attack her before but her response to his words seemed to be making him forget that.

"Good dragon." She said, her voice still carried mirth. "Whether or not I'm Freya or Loki though doesn't matter. Well, it does, but I've come here because I hear you want a miracle. What is it?" She had a pretty good idea. The boy beside her was breathing in a way that said some part of him was still fighting for life, but that it was going to give up soon. The dragon seemed to know this as well and looked from the teenager to the goddess again.

"I-I want for Hiccup to live..." Toothless said, but then quickly added, "A long, happy life!" Just in case this person was able to save Hiccup, but then decided to pull a nasty trick and let Hiccup live but be wanting to die for the rest of his days. Freya nodded.

"I see. You know, I was surprised when I got here. It's been a while since I've been here, possibly centuries, but I never keep track of time, why bother? Anyway, the last time I was here, I remember your two kinds fighting and killing each other – a constant war. What changed?"

The dragon looked over at Hiccup and she saw him actually smile, a very weird looking smile, but a smile none the less, at the boy.

"He did. He didn't kill me, even though he had the opportunity." She could see the love in the dragon's eye's and it pulled at her heart strings.

"He doesn't seem to be the only one who did this, I'm assuming you had the chance to kill him as well, and didn't do it." She was studying him now, amazed that these two creatures had actually stopped a war she knew had been raging for ages. The dragon just shrugged, or at least what could be called a shrug, at her.

"He didn't kill me first." She bit her lip considering her options before deciding to help these two, but she always got something in return for her good deeds. Afterall, why waste her powers on beings that were going to die in what seemed like mere minutes, no, seconds, to her?

"What are you willing to give me?" She asked him. Toothless stared at her, mouth agape.

"G-give you?"

"Yes, give me. You don't expect me to do this for free do you?" she said, getting tired of talking and wanting to start fixing this mess. She needed to fix the situation quickly, the boy was getting closer and closer to meeting Hel, and even though she could bring Hiccup back from the dead, she'd have to talk to Hel, and she'd really rather just keep this little deal between her, the boy, and the dragon for now.

"Anything I can." He finally said. She cocked her head to the side and stared at him "I-I don't know what I can give you. If you need me to find anything in the world, I'll do it. If you want to use me as a slave-" She stopped him there, not wanting to hear him go any further with things that she truly didn't need.

"I think I know what I want." She said. She didn't really need anything that the dragon could give her, but he could amuse her if she took something from him, and 'replaced it' with something else. She was getting devious, she knew.

Loki would be so proud.

Toothless looked at her nervously, but still nodded, though he didn't know what she wanted. The woman studied him before turning back to Hiccup, touch his head lightly and muttering words that Toothless didn't understand. She smiled then, stood up, and waved as she turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" Toothless called after her. "What are you going to take from me?" He asked. He'd do anything for Hiccup, he knew. The boy would do the same for him, but that didn't take the fear of what was going to happen away.

"You'll know what I've taken when you wake up." She said serenely and then she walked out of the room before disappearing from view. Toothless gulped and crawled up onto the bed beside Hiccup, the boy's breathing wasn't getting any better, and he knew it was because he needed to go to sleep before Hiccup could get better. The dragon shut his eyes, wrapping his tail around Hiccup, happy at least that he got to be beside his friend, even if things were soon going to change.


	3. Something Different

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: I found a website that had a list of Norse gods and what they were gods over and if I wanted I could click the name for a more in-depth summary. I CAN'T FIND IT NOW! Also, **this is a longer chapter,** for me anyway, and I also thought I'd let you know that the Toothcup doesn't really noticeably start until chapter six. It's coming though!

**Chapter Three:** Something Different

When Toothless woke up, he was disoriented to put it lightly. His entire body ached but he couldn't figure out what for. He know he didn't do anything the night before that would cause this pain. His muscles felt stretched, his eyes, even though they were closed felt like they were loose in their sockets and...he couldn't feel his tail or his wings. He just couldn't handle the pain though and he welcomed the sleep that enveloped him.

The person he was sleeping by though was slowly waking up. Unlike Toothless though, his body felt re-energized, loose, and free of any stress. He stretched though, hardly believing how great his body felt. He was tempted to go look in a mirror, see if something miraculous had happened to his body to make him feel this good. He shoved the vain idea for later though, turning to the weight beside him, expecting to see Toothless. Instead, there was a man.

Hiccup blinked.

Hiccup blinked again.

Hiccup blinked a third time, this time so hard that he almost hurt his eyelids.

Hiccup screamed.

The man on his bed jumped up at this looking around wildly before looking at Hiccup. This frightened Hiccup and he was about to go to the door when he heard a thump behind him, and against his better judgment, turned to see what happened.

The man was on the floor and naked, but had a sheet covering him for which Hiccup was thankful. He didn't need to see any naked men thank you very much (he got enough of that at community baths and those had scarred him for life, and any lives hereafter). The man was reaching out to him though, a mess on the floor, looking as though he were in an immense amount of pain, but looking at Hiccup as though he didn't know what was going on, or why Hiccup was running away from him. Hiccup looked closely at the man, something familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. Whoever this man was he didn't come from Berk, but in the few meetings he'd been at where he got to see other tribes, he didn't remember seeing him their either, and he knew he would have remembered. This guy didn't fit the viking description at all. He had long black hair, and was paler than anyone Hiccup had ever seen. His eyes were green too, very green, and Hiccup felt somewhat unsettled when the looked at him. The man opened his mouth the speak.

"Grrorrl.." He said, and the man's eyes widened at this, as though he were surprised at what came out of his mouth. Hiccup tilted his head but was no longer trying to run out of the room. He didn't go any closer to the man, but he wasn't going away either.

"Who are you?" He asked for a moment. It seemed to him that the man was trying to move but was failing. He knew however that whoever the guy was, his mouth worked at least a little bit. The man though looked at him confused. The response he got came out something like a chirp and the mans eyes widened again and he moved his shoulder in a way that reminded Hiccup of what Toothless did when he was embarrassed by something that came out of his mouth, like a chirp, similar to what the man just did. The man's eyes widened when nothing happened, and Hiccup could see fear slowly taking over the man's face. The man slowly turned around to look behind him and let out something like a horrified wail that Hiccup winced at the intensity. It wasn't that it was loud...just really focused.

"Are you all right?" Hiccup asked tentatively, slowly moving over to the man. He REALLY needed to figure out what this guy's name was. Constantly calling him 'The Man' was getting old, even in his own mind.

The _person _in front of him looked up, and Hiccup caught his breath at the sight of nearly forming tears in the other person's eyes. He was finally within reaching distance, but the person still wouldn't do anything. Hiccup figured if the guy wanted contact or anything he'd either ask for it or take it or something, but he just sat their like a rag doll, looking at Hiccup like something awful had happened. Hiccup slowly reached out a hand and touched the man's shoulder, patting it awkwardly like his father does when he tries to comfort someone (usually that someone is Hiccup, but Hiccup would prefer not to dwell on that fact). The person looked up and grinned awkwardly, it reminded him of someone and Hiccup was not enjoying being unable to figure this out. He was usually the first person to notice if something was out of place. He drew everything in the village when he was younger and ever since some dragons came to live with them, he'd drawn pictures to prove for years to come what Berk looked like in this time – at least until they got burned or something anyway. Hiccup really needed to stop putting the final touches and details on his pictures in the blacksmith shop.

That wasn't here or now though, the fact is, is that Hiccup was frustrated. He couldn't figure out who this familiar man was, and it seemed as though the man himself was unable to help him figure this out. He huffed out a breath and stuck out his hand for the man to reach (and his mind went back the 'The Man' at some point, Hiccup was unsure when), but he just stared at it, as though he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"Grab my hand so I can help get you back into the bed." Hiccup said patiently. Just because the situation was frustrating him didn't mean that he was going to take it out on the guy, of course the guy was in his bed...

The man was still just looking at it confused, but then kicked out his right leg, narrowly missing Hiccup. Hiccup moved to the side and glared at the man, his hands on his hips. "What was that for? I was just trying to help!" The man in front of him pouted, honestly _pouted,_ and Hiccup kind of thought that it was endearing. As he was calming down from having this stranger in his bed, he was able to take in more details. The man's black hair really was black but if he moved a certain way it almost looked blue. When Hiccup took to seeing the pale skin again, he realized that the skin was actually a little more golden then he had thought. The mouth was a little big, but it fit his face and his nose looked a little small, but it was still the eyes that got Hiccup. Those he got right the moment he saw and remembered them. Those were a startling green, so green in fact that he had ever seen one being with those eyes.

"Where is Toothless?" Hiccup suddenly said to himself, immediately realizing that something must be horribly wrong if his dragon let this stranger into his room. He looked around, but then he heard another chirp from the man. He turned and looked and the man seemed to be getting his bearings and Hiccup had a crazy notion that this man might actually be Toothless. He shook his head though, he had come up with some crazy different theories but this one was by far his worst. But those eyes, and the color of the hair...He figured that testing his theory couldn't hurt.

"Hey, Toothless, bud, look at me." He said, he noticed the man looking down again, still pouting but he immediately looked up and Hiccup saw a smile on his face. His eyes opened wide, and nervousness grabbed him and squeezed tight. Hiccup had seen that smile before, and had seen those same eyes with that smile.

"T-Toothless?" He asked again. His mind wasn't quite able to grasp what was going on. How had Toothless become human? _Why_ was Toothless human? Could he always turn human? What was going on?

The man though, who Hiccup was currently still trying to put Toothless' name to looked happy though, as though whatever pain that was inside him had vanished when Hiccup realized who he was. He moved a little bit though and his face contorted in pain. Hiccup, suddenly jumping back into best friend mode jumped up and put his hands underneath Toothless' armpits and slide him back onto the bed. Toothless might have been much lighter than he used to have been, but he was still bigger than Hiccup, the smaller boy realized, and Toothless didn't seem to be helping get himself into the bed. Once he finally was in the bed though, Hiccup let out a sigh, his mind going at speeds that he Toothless regularly flew at, if not faster.

"How did this happen, bud?" Hiccup finally asked sitting near the headboard. Toothless let out a small wail and Hiccup brushed Toothless' bangs from his eyes, unconsciously petting the other male, like he always did. Hiccup looked down into Toothless' face and saw that he was scared. It hurt him to see his friend like this and he vowed that he would do whatever it took to get that look off of his face. "Can you nod your head yes and no if I ask you questions like that?" Hiccup asked. Toothless nodded, burrowing under the sheets in Hiccups bed, and Hiccup thought for a moment that he was hiding, but then he realized that Toothless was probably freezing. He got off the bed. "Wait one minute!" He said. He quickly went downstairs, making Toothless anxious, but when Hiccup came back he was holding a Terrible Terror. Toothless' eyes narrowed at the other dragon but Hiccup groaned and put the small dragon into Toothless' arms and Toothless was surprised when he felt warmth on his torso, not realizing that he was cold. He was also (a little) surprised that Hiccup had picked up that he was cold before he did. Wasn't it his body?

"Alright, well, since we can do yes and no questions, let's get started, okay?" He asked, Toothless nodded, gathering the terror closer to himself. The Terrible Terror didn't seem to mind at all though, it was happy to be getting attention.

"Okay...can you speak?" Shake

"Can you walk?" Shake.

"So you can't coordinate your movements...but wait, you were reaching out to me, when I was going out the door – how were you able to do that?" All Hiccup got was a chirp in response and he wanted to hit himself, remembering that Toothless can't talk...at least not yet.

"Do you think you can learn to talk? Walk?" A shrug of the shoulders. Hiccup figured Toothless did have some control over his new body. He wasn't sure how he was going to help Toothless learn how to speak, or walk again in his new body, but at least the other could understand what he was saying, at least he didn't have to learn a completely foreign language. He just had to...navigate a completely foreign body. Hiccup sighed. He had a long journey in front of him, but it was nothing compared to what Toothless had coming. That made him think of something though.

"Do you know how to change back?" A shake. Hiccup got a confused look on his face.

"Do you know how this happened in the first place?" Hiccup watched at Toothless started to shake his head but then stopped, his eyes widening. He turned to Hiccup, sitting up, dropping the surprised Terror into his lap, and did a few chirps and growls excitedly, but then he let out a true growl and thumped the bed with his arm harshly, before whimpering in pain. _Okay..._Hiccup thought, _I have my best friend, dragon turned human Toothless, lying naked in my bed, holding a Terrible Terror. Something happened to him and he can't tell me because he can't speak. He only has control of his physical actions if he's in a state of high emotions, and not actually thinking of the movement. When he was scared I'd leave, he reached out his arm. When I tried to help him stand up, he kicked out his __foot, trying to get his hand to get mine. He held onto the Terror because he was scared, though I will NEVER tell him that... Maybe. _Hiccup snorted out loud but couldn't help laughing in his head at the absurdity of the situation. He saw Toothless glaring at him and he stopped, immediately feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry bud, but you got to admit, this is kind of weird." Toothless glared a little more, and started to pout. Hiccup got a sinking feeling. "Toothless, is there a reason that you are like this?" He asked. Toothless stiffened and did nothing, but that answer spoke more then a simple shake of his head. Before Hiccup could ask anything else though, he heard a door opening and he before he really thought about it he ran down the stairs, something he really shouldn't do with his prosthetic leg, because whenever he did, he felt straight on his face at the bottom of the steps unless Toothless was there to catch his fall, which this time he wasn't.

"Owww..." He said as he slowly stood up. The high he felt this morning about how great he was feeling was slowly ebbing away as more time passed, he realized, reminding him that no matter how good his body may feel, he was still a hopeless klutz. That wasn't what was going on though. What he needed was to see his father for answers, who turned to look at him when his body impacted the floor. Stoic's mouth opened in shock before he picked Hiccup up like he was a ragdoll and hugged him.

"Oh Gods, you're alive, you're alive, the healer said that you would die, but, you. Are. Alive." He said the last part like he was in a dream and he couldn't believe that Hiccup was truly in front of him, and in his arms, alive.

Hiccup froze.

"What do you mean, the healer said I wouldn't live?" He asked, dread replacing the simple worry from earlier. If Toothless did something, something to save him...

"The healer said that you caught pneumonia or something, and that it looked bad. He said, he said..." Stoic was trying to not show emotion, but he wasn't doing as well as he usually did. Hiccup smiled. His dad only got like this is something really bad had happened to Hiccup, but this thought made him frown again. Had Toothless done something to keep him amongst the living? It certainly sounded like something Toothless would do. He went back to listening to his father though, still putting the pieces of the puzzle together. "When he said he couldn't do anything, he said that maybe the Gods could. I hadn't even started the sacrifice though-" Hiccup winced, he hated the sacrifices. He knew years ago, long before even the elders of the village were born, they did human sacrifices in their tribe, and luckily that practice was no longer in their tribe, but they still sacrificed livestock and Hiccup always got sick feelings in his stomach whenever they did that. "-but here you are, in front of me and fine! The Gods answered my prayers, without need of a gift!" Stoic and Hiccup both froze at that. The Gods could be kind or they could be evil, but rarely did they do something without getting something in return. Hiccup thought back to Toothless.

"Oh Odin..." Hiccup whispered. "What did he do?" Stoic looked at him confused.

"I tried to save you, but I only prayed Hiccup, I'll find out what the Gods did, or what I need to do to appease them, don't worr-" Stoic started rambling but Hiccup had tuned him out. Whatever Gods or God or Goddesses had already taken something. He turned around and ran back up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Stoic yelled, wondering about the sudden change in his son.

"I have to check on Toothless!" He opened the door to find Toothless sitting up somehow. Hiccup took this as a good sign, perhaps Toothless was starting to understand his new body more, when Hiccup realized exactly was Toothless was doing. He still held the Terror in the crook of his left arm, reminding Hiccup of a child with a stuffed (artificial) terror that were used to scare away demons from their bedrooms, much like Hiccup's teddy bear had. But what Hiccup truly noticed was Toothless' right hand. He had it held out in front of him, palm facing away, just looking at it. Toothless squinted, and very slowly, Hiccup saw the thumb move forward and then move back. The next finger followed suit, and then the next. Finally when the pinky was done, he clapped from his spot in the doorway, causing Toothless to gasp and hug the Terror close to him, as if indeed he was one of those children, using the terror to scare away his demons. Hiccup smiled at the sight, having never seen Toothless so vulnerable. He smiled at his best friend though and walked over to him. "You did really good their buddy. It can't be easy to just...start using a new body. It's- It's pretty different from your last one, isn't it?" Hiccup joked lightly and Toothless nodded, a small smile of his own appearing. Hiccup leaned over and gave Toothless a hug, like they always did to each other when one of them was distressed. His friend looked different, was acting different, and was just plain scared, but Hiccup saw the same friendship in Toothless' eyes that was always there, and always reserved for just him, and he knew his friend had done this to save his life, somehow. He made a decision he knew, at some point during waking up and finding Toothless in his bed to talking to his father. He was going to help Toothless get through this, one way or another.

"You're not gonna be alone for this buddy." Hiccup whispered in his ears. Toothless had let go of the Terror soon after Hiccup had grabbed him around the neck and was now holding the boy as close to his body as he could. His fingers were digging deeply into Hiccups side, but Hiccup ignored it. "You are not going to be alone. I'll be there every step of the way." He promised. He thought he heard a whisper from Toothless, it was a chirp, but Hiccup thought that he could hear a little 'I know' somewhere inside of it.


	4. Wiggle Your Toes

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: I do not know if the Norse people had community baths. I'm saying they did. Also, thanks for the fantastic reviews! And to the people who don't want this to be slash, I'm considering writing a non-slash version, but the slash version is going to be written first :) I've already got quite a bit of it written.

**Chapter Four:** Wiggle Your Toes

After the two of them split apart, Hiccup realized quite a bit of time had passed. He was pretty sure it was still light out when he hugged Toothless, but now it was clearly late into the evening. He was still wide awake and realized that he didn't know what time of day it was when he actually woke up.

Toothless was lying his head on Hiccups shoulder now, looking down at his right hand, now opening and closing it into a fist.

"You tired, Toothless?" He whispered, as though his father could hear them, though the man had gone to sleep. Hiccup had shut the door when he entered his room and his father had knocked and asked what was going on. Hiccup told him he would tell him in the morning. He heard his father go quiet and felt the tension, wondering if his father was going to try and demand an answer or not, but he just heard his father walk away.

Toothless shook his head against his shoulder. He was now slowly rising his left hand, and started do the moving finger by finger thing again. Hiccup watched his progress already feeling pride for what Toothless had done in such a small amount of time. Toothless was watching his fist still. At some point the Terrible Terror had settled into Hiccup's lap and he idly pet it while he kept watching Toothless try to figure how his new body worked.

"Do you think you can wiggle your toes?" Hiccup asked. Toothless shrugged, and tried it. He bit his lip, but instead of toes moving, his right knee jerked up. He grunted in frustration but Hiccup patted his shoulder.

"Don't get angry at yourself, bud. Remember when I lost my leg?" He asked, motioning toward it. Toothless winced at the memory but Hiccup rolled his eyes. He had gotten over it ages ago – yeah, it still sucked, but life has moved on and he hasn't had to much of a problem. His dad and Toothless still felt the guilt though. "It took me _forever _to figure it out. How I got outside that first day after it happened, who knows?" He grinned at Toothless, his eyes showing mirth. "But maybe that's because I had a friend to lean on." Toothless was obviously cheering up, and Hiccup got out of the bed. "But still. Other than that one time, it took me weeks to understand how to even balance on the thing. It was hard, but you've already started to figure out so many new things. I had to get used to a missing leg – you have to get used to a whole new body." He felt Toothless nuzzle his shoulder, appreciative of what the boy was telling him. Hiccup thought that it was odd, having another human male do this to him, but it was the only form of communication Toothless had right now, the only one he knows.

Hiccup sighed. There were so many things for Toothless to learn. At least he was starting to figure out what his body parts were. He might have had them as a dragon but Hiccup knew that it was slightly different now.

He wondered what to do next, should he try to help Toothless walk? Stand? He bit his lip, unable to figure out what he should do. He wasn't aware of Toothless studying his face. Toothless was never quite this close to Hiccup's face, his nose keeping him a little short of a foot away. His head had returned to Hiccup's should and as he looked up he could see the freckles on the boy's face, and a birthmark hiding behind Hiccup's ear that he had never seen before. It kind of looked like a puffy goat he thought – but maybe that just meant it looked like a regular sheep, who knows?

"I suppose, since you seem to have figured out most of your upper body we should start on the lower..." Hiccup said slowly, "You know how to use your knees, kind of. Do you think you can move your right knee again?" Hiccup asked. Toothless sat up straight and looked at his knee, concentrating, when it jumped up. He smiled and made a chirp again, not even bothering to do anything about it. He looked at Hiccup to see what he thought, and his friend was smiling at him. Hiccup nodded, "Okay, now the left." He said. It took a few minutes, but Toothless' left knee finally jerked up, similar to the way the right did. Hiccup patted him on the back. "You're doing great Toothless, _beyond _great really. Now...let's work on those toes..."

And it continued, all through the night. Hiccup would tell Toothless to move a body part and Toothless would do it, sometimes moving the right leg instead of the left, or moving an elbow instead of a finger, but as the night progressed, and Hiccup kept asking him to move something, his mistakes became fewer and fewer until there were none at all. By the time the sun came up, Toothless had basic control of all his limbs and they were both beyond tired and both falling on the bed around the same time, sleeping side by side, looking very similar to what they did earlier. Instead though, Hiccup was on top of the covers, still aware that Toothless was naked.

Unfortunately, neither of them really thought of the third person in their house, and they woke up to a roar that could have rivaled a bear's.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SON?" Stoic yelled, he reached over Hiccup's body, easily lifting the other man out of the bed. He ignored the nakedness of the man before him and slammed him into a wall. Toothless let out a groan when his head hit the wall behind him. Why was this body so sensitive and feeble? His dragon form was never like this. His head was throbbing and his shoulders were aching from where Stoic was digging his fingers in.  
>"ANSWER ME!" He yelled into smaller man's face. Hiccup winced and ran over to his dad, grabbing his arms, as though he could actually move the larger man away from his friend.<p>

"Dad! Dad! DAD! You don't understand!" Hiccup yelled out, holding as tightly as he could onto Stoic's arm. Stoic barely noticed though. He moved one hand from one of Toothless' shoulders and put the hand into a fist, intending to hit the man when Hiccup took that moment to slide into the space that the arm vacated and stood in front of his dad.

"Dad, you don't understand!" Stoic kept his arm where it was, his eyes never leaving Toothless.

"What is there for me to understand, _Hiccup._" Hiccup could tell he was on a thin rope, his father's anger nearly winning over the restraint he was currently holding for his son.

"Dad, this," he waved at Toothless warily, "is Toothless." Stoic laughed at this harshly, not changing his form at all.

"You honestly expect me to believe that this...human...is your dragon?" He asked, laughing mockingly. Hiccup knew it was the situation, but it still hurt for his father to say that, but at the same time he understood why he would.

"Yes, dad, do you honestly expect Toothless to just let another person, let alone a _man_, into my bed? Look around dad. Where's Toothless? Has he ever left my side for no reason? You told me that I was sick. I've been sick a few times dad. Has Toothless ever left my side at any of those times?" Hiccup was pleased, while his father was still ready to punch Toothless, he could see the words sinking into his father's head, and the man was relaxing his grip on Toothless shoulder. He slowly lowered his right arm, but kept his hand on Toothless' shoulder just in case.

"How do you know that this it Toothless?" His father finally asked, his voice wary as though he were tired. His eyes studying the man before him suddenly realizing he was naked. Stoic just sighed and handed the sheet to Toothless, while waiting for Hiccup to answer his question.  
>"He doesn't know what you want him to do with the sheet, dad." Hiccup was looking anywhere but Toothless now. The community bath might have made other males accepting of others bodies and they could care less in the baths if they were around other naked males having 'seen it all before', but Hiccup was still modest. His body had always been so different from everyone else.<p>

"What do you mean he doesn't know what to do with the sheet?" Stoic asked, bemused. Wasn't it obvious.

"He's never not been naked dad." Stoic thought about it for a moment and it was like it clicked in his head that the other man in the room truly was Toothless, he turned to the dark haired man with his mouth opened in shock. "He's Toothless, dad." Hiccup said, essentially repeating the words that were traveling through Stoic's mind.

"We...we should really get him some clothes." Stoic mumbled. He threw the sheet at Hiccup, who was watching his father, training his eyes that was anything but Toothless. "Show him what to do with this." After that Stoic left the room, muttering to himself about dragons and humans, and what had his crazy son done now?


	5. But Why?

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: It's interesting watching how I'm getting more confident with my writing. The thing though is that I'm currently on chapter 8 but getting more used to it. When the story is finished I'm going to come back and fix things (primarily where I think things are ooc). Anyways, enjoy!

**Chapter Five:** But Why?

After finally getting Toothless clothed, which took quite a bit of work as Toothless kept trying to take the clothes back off or 'rearrange' them as it were, Hiccup finally soothed him into just sitting still for a few moments to get used to the clothes on his skin. It felt different than the saddle that Hiccup had built him, and it covered more, but as Toothless moved, he did notice that it didn't rub his body the same as the saddle did, and under his arms the shirt he was wearing was somewhat loose.

Getting Toothless to walk was another story. It took a few days, and a lot of cries of frustration from Toothless, but he started to walk, if it wasn't more than a few steps before losing his balance, but if he had a wall to lean on, or the railing of the stairs, he was fine. He even started talking a bit, though usually it was a chirp that Hiccup heard as a word. He always knew what Toothless was saying in dragon form without him saying anything at all, but this Toothless, his face was harder to read.

Toothless also started noticing things that he didn't before, like color. He always had a sense of color, because Hiccup used to ask him about what color flowers he thought Astrid would like when they were dating. He knew Hiccup was asking something but he only saw things in shades of white, black, gray, and blue, so he always just pointed at the flower with the most interesting shape. He didn't actually see the colors that Hiccup was able to see and it shocked him that humans could see so much with their tiny eyes that his big ones could not. He took a look at his clothes. He was wearing a whitish shirt, a color he did know, but greenish pants, but he only knew that color because Hiccup brought up how green the grass looked when it seemed that things were warming up a bit earlier that day. He looked outside at the ground and back to his pants. They weren't the same shade but they were both green.

He and Hiccup were now sitting at the table in the home, across from Stoic, who still had a confused air about him, even though he now knew that the man beside his son was Toothless, and had been in this form for almost a week now.

"What are we...going to do with him?" Stoic asked, bringing his hand up to stroke his beard around his chin. Hiccup was biting his lip and Toothless just kept looking around the home as though it were completely new for him. Hiccup started to tap his fingers on the table.

"We could...no, that wouldn't work. What about, no, I trust those guys but this could be something that they take advantage of..."Hiccup mumbled to himself. "What if we leave the village for a bit?" He asked. Stoic stared at him like he was crazy.

"Absolutely not! You can't last alone out there! Do you remember who it was that tripped over the rope that let all the fish of the day's catch out all over the docks two weeks ago? Or who dropped the broadsword he was working on into the fire? Or who lost his prosthetic for a day?" Stoic asked. He wasn't yelling but he wasn't talking either. Hiccup called it his dad voice. And wait, hey-

"That last one wasn't my fault! It was-" Hiccup stopped and shut his mouth. "Yeah, that was my fault." Stoic snorted and shook his head at him.  
>"I forbid you to leave with...Toothless. You need to stay close to the village." Stoic ordered. "It's not safe, for either of you!" He added the last part when Hiccup was about to argue. He knew his son would have no problem with putting his life on the line for the dragon, but if the dragon was in trouble...<p>

Hiccup sighed in defeat. His father had a point. He couldn't very well take Toothless into the wilderness. He was awful at hunting, and Toothless didn't know how to hunt in his new form, they wouldn't be able to eat. Admittedly there were always lakes and the like to get fish, but even then, Toothless did most of the gathering when they were alone and wanted food. Hiccup was starting to realize how useless he was in their friendship.

"Fine." He whispered. His mind was still trying to figure out what to do. He felt something bump his shoulder and he turned to see Toothless nuzzling him, knowing something was causing him more distress than something from before. Hiccup pet him and Stoic winced, looking away from the other two. He loved his son, and he tolerated the dragon, but _this _was unacceptable behavior between two men. He knew his son though, if he banned his son from something, it usually doesn't work. He'd figure out one way or another to get what he wanted. He smiled at that trait though, his son was a viking on the inside, if not on the outside – most definitely not on the outside.

"He could...be from another Tribe." Hiccup said slowly, bringing one hand up to stroke his chin, the other crossed his torso so he could put his elbow on it, not unlike the first time he put the tail fin on Toothless. He wasn't paying any attention to the other males in the room, his mind running at overdrive. "He's starting to speak more." Stoic snorted. Toothless might have been able to speak more but it was more chirping that sounded like a word than anything. Hiccup knew what he was saying every time, while Stoic got it about a fifth of the time. Hiccup glared at him and so did Toothless. He saw Toothless' nose flare, and he knew that if Toothless still were a dragon, the beginning of a fire would have been building in his mouth. Hiccup, though glaring at his father, continued on as though he hadn't been interrupted. "He's walking alright..." Hiccup said looking at Toothless. The non-dragon was now leaning on the table, hunched over looking nervous. Hiccup realized that he was sitting similarly to him when he was nervous. He felt awful that this happened to Toothless but...

"Wait a minute." Hiccup said, looking at the table but not seeing it. "Why is Toothless like this?" Hiccup asked. From the moment that Toothless changed, he immediately started to get his friend comfortable in his new body, but why did he have a new body anyway? He's positive he asked before but... His father looked confused and Toothless looked away. Hiccup looked between them and was surprised when Stoic's face showed understanding.

"The Gods..." Stoic whispered, looking at Toothless, "This is the price." Hiccup glared at his dad.

"I know that this had something to do with the gods already, and that you prayed and Toothless got this body. What I want to know now, is how the gods did it...if we know." he asked. Stoic looked over at his son, and saw that the boy was just confused. He sighed.

"I prayed to the Gods to get you better Hiccup." Stoic said, waving his hand at Toothless. "This is what they took." Hiccup blinked, then glared at his father.

"Didn't I just say that? And we need to find a way to change him back! Toothless shouldn't become human because you decided to pray for-" But Hiccup was interrupted.

"No!" The voice was deep and scratchy, and for the first time, the word didn't sound like a chirp. "Save Hiccup. Both alive. Good." Hiccup and Stoic looked at Toothless amazed. Not one of those words were even slightly chirpish sounding, and...

"What do you mean, Toothless? You shouldn't have to change your whole life just for me!" Hiccup was almost yelling now. He turned to his father, "You did this!" Not because his anger at his father or Toothless' situation though, but because it was him that made this whole mess get started.

"Son, I did what I thought I-"  
>"I. Did it." Toothless said, "Freya, she speak to me." Hiccup and Stoic stared at Toothless with their mouths wide open.<br>"Y-you did this?" Hiccup asked getting closer to his friend and looking him in the eye. "Why?" He finally asked, completely confused as to why Toothless would do this for him. "Wait- Freya?"

"Hiccup friend. Can't let friend die." Toothless said. "No take back." Hiccup kept still but Stoic nodded.

"I agree with Toothless." Stoic said, and Hiccup tossed a glare his way before looking back at Toothless.

"Of course you do." Hiccup mumbled. "You said you spoke with Freya?" Hiccup asked. Toothless nodded.

"She saves Hiccup, she take from me." Toothless said. Besides his grammar, which Hiccup was sure Toothless would figure out quickly enough, the way his words came out were getting better and better, but then it made sense. Toothless learned everything faster if he was in a high emotional state, like his body went onto autopilot and he just knew what to do. "Me agree." Toothless crossed his arms and Hiccup looked at him surprised. For a moment his mind was lifted from the situation and he just looked at Toothless. His friend was doing a very human gesture. Most of the dragons he knew didn't have long enough arms or short enough girth to cross their arms. Toothless repeated, "No take back."

Hiccup was grumbling at that, once he came back from the surreal sight of Toothless crossing his arms. He got a confused looked on his face again.

"What exactly is it that she took though? Is it your dragon...dragony...why'd she just change you into a human? What's the point of that?" Hiccup started to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He was worried the Gods were up to something, and that Toothless would be caught in the middle of it all. Toothless and Stoic both looked confused at this as well, but Toothless had already made up his mind.

No take back.


	6. Berk Meets Einarr

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

Disclaimer: (I haven't written one yet! Oops!) I don't own anything or make a profit from doing this, Dreamworks and others own rights and whatnot of HTTYD.

**Chapter Six: **Berk Meets Einarr

After the little discussion (the word 'little' is being used loosely), they went back to the more pressing matter at the moment. What on earth were they going to do with Toothless? Hiccup though had the answer, though no one at the table liked it. Toothless would have to join the population as someone else, not as Toothless. Hiccup and Toothless both thought that other than Toothless' mishaps of being human (which were sometimes still big mishaps), it would be relatively easy for Berk to see Toothless as a 'normal'. Stoic knew differently.

"Fine, so you walk in with this man," Stoic looked at Toothless, studying him for the thousandth time, still not used to it, "and say, 'oh yes, this is whatshisface. He's from another tribe. Let's welcome him with open arms.' you expect our people to actually do it?" Stoic shook his head. "I know that you think the rest of us aren't as smart as you Hiccup." Hiccup blushed, he did sometimes have those thoughts, even though they were conceited. "But we aren't that stupid either. Besides, we have been at war with other tribes before. Do you honestly think that the people of Berk will accept him? They will see him as a spy! Someone to infiltrate our community, and take us down." He shook his head. "That won't work. Besides, we know many tribes in the area, and _none _of them have people that look like that." Hiccup crossed his arms.  
>"Oh, because Snoutlout and I could be twins." Hiccup said spitefully, "What other choice do we have?" Hiccup thought about it for a while, then got another idea. "What if he's from one of the tribes that haven't accepted dragons? We could say that he ran away, that he wanted to see if it were true, that people and dragons could live side by side and be at peace."<p>

Stoic looked at his son and then his son's dragon and shook his head, sighing at the same time. "That's the idea you were talking about before...I have a bad feeling about this...but that may be all that we've got." Hiccup turned to smile at Toothless.

"I've got a few more lessons for you, bud."

Toothless was getting annoyed from many things. His new nose, his new feet, new hands, but the worst was being cooped up inside, only going out for quick little walks with Hiccup at night, but Hiccup said that if he could get his speech to be a little bit better, that he'd be going out during the day, but that brought up another problem. He'd have to face the humans. Worse than that though, the other _dragons. _He was nervous, would the recognize him? He knew the humans wouldn't be able to – hell, Hiccup didn't recognize him. The other dragons though, their noses are much stronger than his little human one was. _Do I smell the same?_ He wondered. _Do I want the other dragons to recognize me?_ He was having mixed emotions on that one. On one hand, while he and the other dragons got along, he wasn't really friends with any of them. He fought beside them, hell, even saved a few, but he enjoyed spending time with Hiccup more, but that was how it always was with dragons. You stuck closer to your own kind, and in his case, another Night Fury has never shown up to Berk in the entire time that he had been here, and Hiccup was pretty much his own kind anyway, the two outcasts of Berk. He was broken from his musings by the other outcast.

"Alright," Hiccup said, "What's that?" He was pointing at a chair, and Toothless rolled his eyes. He knew what they all were, but Hiccup wanted to make sure his gammer, trammer, or something like that was up to par.  
>"A chair."<p>

"Please extrapolate." Hiccup said, grinning. Toothless glared at him.

"What the...? What does that mean?" He asked, but it had no effect on Hiccup.

"It means to go extend farther." Hiccup laughed out. "Your last sentence was pretty good though." Hiccup took a deep breath and looked Toothless in the eye, his 'serious' face, as Toothless called it, going full force. "You ready?" He asked.

Toothless wasn't. His hands were shaking, his tongue felt twisted, it felt as though he had eaten a boulder and it was sitting heavily in his stomach..."Yes." He answered. He just wanted to get this over with, and pray that all the efforts he and Hiccup made were not in vain. He stood up with Hiccup.

"Okay," Hiccup started, "Remember, Toothless is gone looking for a mate to bring back to Berk-" Toothless snorted. "and I _was _sick for, like three days, but when I got better I wanted to spend some time with you alone before you left because I somehow knew you were going. After you left and I was returning to Berk on foot, I met _you, _Einarr-"

"I know the name, Hiccup. I don't like it." Toothless pouted.

Hiccup continued, ignoring Toothless. "You left your village to see if it were true about the dragons and humans."

"And if anyone thinks I'm a spy or something devious-" Toothless started. Hiccup grinned at him.

"We tell them that dad already was working on that, and that is why you are staying in our home – so he can keep an eye on you!" Hiccup awkwardly put his arm around Toothless' shoulders, making the taller of the two lean down a bit. Hiccup didn't notice Toothless touching the bridge of his new nose.

Toothless did not like his new nose. He couldn't smell nearly as well as he could before, but he could still smell Hiccup, when he was this close, he still smelled the same. He reveled in that fact and wrapped his arms around Hiccup's body, just smelling his hair and the nape of his neck. They stood like that for a while, but then Hiccup started to get uncomfortable. Being friendly with Toothless in his dragon form wasn't quite the same as when he was human. He finally let go of Toothless though, blushing, and waved a hand haphazardly to the door to his bedroom.

"We should-ah, probably get to sleep." Hiccup said, turning around and walking away. Toothless noticed the blush and got confused as to that reaction. It was something he had never seen before, that red color (possibly his favorite new color, though blue was still preferred) over his human's face. He didn't know what it meant, but it did make Hiccup's face cuter than it already was. He wanted to do it again.

That was for another time though. Tonight, he followed Hiccup into the bedroom and got situated on the bed beside him. Stoic didn't like that they were sleeping in the same bed, and while Toothless used to be fine with sleeping on the floor in his dragon form, his frail human body just didn't seem to take it the same way.

As he laid beside Hiccup, he tried not to think of the coming day, when the people of Berk would see Hiccup for the first time in almost two weeks, and were introduced to Einarr.

The coming morning came all to soon for Toothless, he hated being cooped up during the day, but now he wanted nothing more than to hide. Hiccup however thought that that was out of the question.

"Come on Toothless. Err...I mean, Einarr. The sooner you wake up, and get out there, the better." Hiccup didn't really believe that, but he wanted to get this over with, and his dragon, who was currently hiding under the covers (head included) was not helping.

"I know banna." He said, his voice muffled by the covers, holding onto the blanket tightly as Hiccup tried to tug it off. He was still stronger than Hiccup though, and Hiccup wasn't getting very far with this approach. Finally he let go of the blanket and threw his arms into the air in exasperation.

"Einarr – you have got to do this!" Toothless popped his head out from under the covers.

"I don't like my new name!" He said. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"It means bold and valour Toothless. It's a lot better than Hiccup, or Fishlegs, or something." Hiccup said while Toothless silently agreed. It was better than those, but he still didn't like it. As far as he was concerned, his name was Toothless, and Einarr just sounded wrong to him after years of being called the other. Hiccup saw that he was preoccupied, and carefully grabbed the blanket before yanking it harshly and pulled it from Toothless, catching the dragon-turned-man by surprise and sent him sprawling to the floor. He winced while he situated himself, before standing up.

"I really don't like this body. It's so weak!" He complained, which got him another eye roll from Hiccup.

"Yes, yes, I know. Odin knows that you still haven't shut up about it! I'm regretting finally getting you to talk properly." Toothless glared at him but finally started getting ready for the day. He put on a blue shirt with tan pants and dark brown boots and looked at Hiccup, who was putting on clothes that looked similar to what he wore years ago.

Once they were both ready, they walked outside into the morning sun. Berk was already bustling with activity. Fish was being pulled in from the ocean, people were going to shops and haggling for cheaper prices on goods. The farmers could be seen tending their animals, and Toothless heard swearing coming from Gobber's blacksmith shop, having dropped something most likely. Toothless seemed amazed by what was going on, but Hiccup took it all in stride, starting to climb down the steps from his home, expecting Toothless to follow him, which he did.

As they neared the bottom, a voice rang out, "Hey! Hiccup! Where have you been?" Asked a familiar blond male. Hiccup smiled at Fishlegs while Toothless stared at him from his new vantage point. Fishlegs used to be quite the chubby child, but he seemed to grow into it a little more as he grew taller, but not much. His bulk reminded Toothless of Stoic or Gobber's. Fishlegs attention though immediately went from Hiccup though to Toothless, his eyes questioning but not suspicious. Hiccup was happy that it was Fishlegs that Einarr would meet 'first'.

"Fishlegs! I've um, been sick." Hiccup said, laughing nervously with his hand scratching behind his neck. He waved at Toothless, "This is Einarr by the way." He said. He looked at Toothless, waiting for him to do something but the older boy just stayed quiet, studying Fishlegs. Hiccup elbowed him and Toothless took that moment to glare down at him, only to have Hiccup grin up at him sweetly.  
>"Hi." Toothless said. He heard Hiccup muttering something, but wasn't sure what it was. He was pretty sure though that it was something like, "Thank you for nothing you worthless reptile." Toothless gave Hiccup a cheeky grin. Hiccup had to admit that Toothless' face looked really amazing like that. He then stopped his mind for a moment as he focused on that one fact. <em>His face looks amazing? What the-<em> but his musings were cut short. Fishlegs was at first apprehensive of Toothless when he was staring him down, studying him, but when he saw him grinning at Hiccup, he decided that he couldn't be all that bad.

"My name's Fishlegs, but-uh I guess you already knew that, huh?" He said, putting his hand out for Toothless to shake. Toothless really didn't want to, he knew where those hands had been, and knew that quite a few vikings took very good care of themselves when it came to personal hygiene, but Fishlegs was most definitely not one of them. Hiccup elbowed him again, and he let out a sigh, gingerly shaking Fishleg's hand.

"So...you're better now Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked, excited. He was practically jumping on his heels, and only stopped when Hiccup nodded. "Thats great! Snoutlout and I have been having some trouble training some of the ten and eleven year olds how to correctly show a dragon how to turn in midair." Toothless snorted again, ignoring the warning look that Hiccup gave him _The dragon knows how to __turn in midair you dolt, we don't need children showing us how to do it. _"-and we were thinking that you and Toothless could help us out." Fishlegs said with one breath.

"Su-" Hiccup started, but this time a heel came down on his toes, almost causing tears to come to his eyes, but he was proud of the fact that other than a little 'eep!' he made no other indications of the pain Toothless' heel had put him through. "Err...I don't think that's a good idea." Hiccup said slowly. "Toothless actually won't be back for a while..." He said. Fishlegs eyebrows came together in confusion.

"What? Why? He's always with you, why would he leave, and where is he anyway?" He asked, now looking around for the dragon that almost never left Hiccup's side.

"He's off to find a mate-" He heard a sound of disgust from the man beside him but ignored it, "and he won't be back for a while." Hiccup finished lamely. Fishlegs didn't seem to notice though.

"He left to find a mate? Are there any other Night Furies out there? He's been the only one sighted in Berk ever since the last fight between us and the dragons!" Fishlegs said still confused.

"Exactly." Toothless said, bored. He could feel Hiccup glaring at him, probably thinking he was being rude. He was already lying about who and what he was. He was not going to lie about his attitude and Hiccup would just have to deal with it. He liked Hiccup, that like didn't extend to many others, any really. "That's why he had to leave Berk. There aren't any Night Furies here, are there?" he said drolly. Fishlegs nodded his head, apparently completely missing the way that Toothless was speaking to him, as though he were a child. Hiccup was currently wishing that Toothless knew fewer words, and wondering why he had to pick speaking up _that _fast.

Before he could respond to him though, there were more voices behind him.

"What are you doing Dragon's breath?"

"What's it look like I'm doing cow's butt?"

"It looks like-" Toothless tuned out Ruffnut and Tuffnut's... conversation. In the years that he had known them the two had matured...to everyone around them, but to each other, they stayed the annoying twins that always got on Toothless' nerves. It was time's like these that he realized that he really liked Hiccup. A lot. He was willing to put up with all of Berk for him. That meant something.

"Hiccup! Welcome back to Berk! Do you need a tour, you've been gone long enough." Tuffnut said, running up and knocking Hiccup in the shoulder with his fist. It was meant to be a friendly jab, but Hiccup was Hiccup and he almost fell over. Toothless caught him and glared at Tuffnut, but the blond didn't seem to notice. Ruffnut walked closer to them.

"And what have we here?" Ruffnut said, as she looked Toothless up and down, grinning a predatory smile. Hiccup didn't like the look of it, and Toothless didn't notice it, he was still glaring at Tuffnut.

"This is Einarr. He's from another tribe-" Hiccup was about to explain, but Ruffnut was already leaning on Toothless in a way that made his skin crawl.

"If you want to give Hiccup here a little break, I'm certainly willing to give you a tour around the town." She said. Toothless took a step back, and since she was leaning on him, she fell forward, just barely keeping her balance. She looked back at him and grinned.

"Playing hard to get...I like that." She looked as though she might try something when two other sets of footsteps came up, these belonging to Astrid and Snoutlout.

After Hiccup and Astrid broke up a few years back, she finally gave in to Snoutlout's advances, much to his joy. She regretted it from that moment on, but her parents were so thrilled, that she didn't have the heart to break it off with him. As they walked up, Snoutlout's arm around her waist, and her eyes immediately went to the new member of their little group. His hair was black, and his eyes were green. He was taller than any of them, and lean. Not as lean as Hiccup, who, while he had filled out, still was the smallest viking his age. No, this boy – _man -_had defined muscles under his shirt and she immediately felt her heart stop at the sight of him. She remembered Snoutlout's arm and wiggled out of it, making sure that the new man in their mists saw that she didn't want to be with him. She's only ever had two boyfriends, Hiccup and Snoutlout. Hiccup amazed her. He was smart, funny, brave...but he just didn't seem to get her. Snoutlout...wasn't Hiccup, but he was a viking that the rest of the village would agree would make a good husband for her (were they blind?). She desperately wanted to find a way to get away from Snoutlout, but still have a family and be respected by the villge, and before she really thought about it she was already planning on trying to get the black haired man she hadn't even met yet. She blushed lightly when she realized that she hadn't even spoken to him, or even heard his voice. She tuned everyone out around her and pushed her way through the others so that she was standing in front of him, making sure that he was completely focused on her (which was somewhat difficult, even with the barging through, he seemed to have eyes only for Hiccup) before she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I haven't seen you before," She started. "The name is Astrid. Yours?" She watched his face, seeing the look of surprise at her boldness. She was happy about this, as it got his attention and she was certain that he was noticing her fully now. She hoped her arms were raising her bosom a little. She'd crossed them for just that reason. It took him a few moments before he seemed to realize that she was still waiting for an answer.

"Einarr." He said simply. From Toothless' and Hiccup's point of view, things were quite different. Toothless was watching Hiccup talk to his friends when Astrid barreled through. Seeing as she always seemed to do this, having to show she was tough or something he supposed, he ignored her. Hiccup-watching was always more entertaining. She stopped in front of him though, raising her arms and doing something with the blobs of skin on her chest. Hiccup didn't have those parts to his body so was unable to do that.

"I haven't seen you before. The name is Astrid. Yours?" She asked. Toothless had never been Astrid's biggest fan. The first time they 'met' she had seen Toothless and tried to kill him, then tried to run to the village, which Hiccup had told him would probably end with both of them dead had she succeeded with it. When Hiccup decided to actually date the girl, he always calmed himself with the facts that it was always _him _who Hiccup came to when something was wrong and he needed comfort. He knew Hiccup never bothered with Astrid. Actually, Toothless took that back. Hiccup had tried to do that with Astrid but the girl seemed to ignore it. She mostly wanted to lounge about, touching her face to Hiccup's for some reason he could never understand. Hiccup called what they were doing 'kissing' or whatever, or talking Hiccup into helping fly her dragon and even asked if she could ride Toothless alone. Hiccup though put his foot down, saying that while he was fine flying on Toothless with her, he would not let her ride Toothless alone. He said that Toothless needed a rider who could control his tail fin (this is true) and that he liked to do tricks on a whim (also true) and he was picky (so very, very true). The two of them had a fantastic fight about that, and after it, Hiccup and Astrid seemed to do the kissing thing less and less. After thinking about all of this, he finally answered her, hoping it would make her go away. "Einarr."

A/N: I waited until the end for this author's note, mainly because I wanted input on how you guy's think I wrote Astrid. Does she seem in character? Whenever I watch the movie she's just so pushy and doesn't notice Hiccup until she meets Toothless, and she was angry at Hiccup from being better in the ring, and her jealousy made her follow him when she pushed him down and hurt him with her axe...

I don't like her, and I was wondering if I'm writing to much 'evil Astrid'. If she seems to be in character evil Astrid, great! I just want her to be in character... I'm done rambling. (Please note the lengthening chapters :))


	7. Astrid and Einarr

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: Thanks all for the reviews! Also thanks for those who talked to me abotu Astrid :) I'm considering toning her down when I go back through the story and tie up loose ends or make better descriptions or etc... I'm not sure though This chapter though she definetely is NOT toned down - even the slightest Astrid fans beware.

**Chapter Seven: **Astrid and Einarr

Hiccup was looking from between Astrid and Toothless and back again. He wasn't aware of it but his mouth dropped open from shock. He didn't even have the opportunity to introduce Einarr to her and she was already forcing her way to the punch? Admittedly, that was very much Astrid's way but there are still these things called 'manners' in Berk believe it or not, and she just blew past them all.

And was she purposely lifting her breasts like that?

Hiccup shook his head, mouth still open. He would expect this from Ruffnut, but _Astrid_? And weren't her and Snoutlout going out? After Astrid broke up with him, she hooked up with the other viking pretty quickly. Speaking of the other viking...

"Einarr? What type of name is 'Einarr'?" Snoutlout sneered. He was at first just interested in meeting the new man, but in under two minutes of noticing the stranger, it seemed as though his girlfriend was already infatuated with him. Einarr turned to glare at him and answered.

"A good one."

Everyone waited for more of an explanation but Einarr didn't go any farther. Hiccup started to sweat lightly from nervousness.

"Er...I was just um...going to show Einarr around the village here, let him meet some people and find out where everything is. Um...bye!" Hiccup, after saying that, grabbed Toothless by the crook of his elbow and started to drag him away from the other teens. His hand was like a vice grip and Toothless actually winced from the pain, but didn't say anything.

Meanwhile, the other teens just looked on bemused. In all honesty, Hiccup acting all jumpy and nervous wasn't really strange. He was like that all the time. The twins shrugged, Fishlegs started whistling and the three parted ways, going onto do whatever it was they were going to do before Hiccup and Einarr came out of the chief's home.

Snoutlout and Astrid though, stayed put.

"Who does he think he is?" Snoutlout huffed, crossing his arms. He looked to his girlfriend, seeing her watch Hiccup and Einarr go further into the village. "Astrid, babe, let's go to the lake like we were planning and-" He said, reminding her of their earlier plans. He was getting excited for them and started grinning. Any jealousy (not that he was jealous) that he felt leaving at the thought of him and Astrid getting some _alone time_. He didn't understand how some people could actually wait for marriage. The girl interrupted him though.

"No, I don't think I will." She said, "Go entertain yourself." She said offhandedly. Waving at him as the followed Hiccup and Einarr into the market. She didn't notice the glare that Snoutlout was giving her, her to busy thinking about Hiccup's behavior.

While the others might have seen it as normal, she knew better. He only acted like that when he was hiding something. He did it when he found Toothless, he did it when he had a surprise for her, he did it when he felt he had to lie...That boy was hiding something, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

She stopped walking when one of her thoughts came back to her. _He did it when he found __Toothless...where IS Toothless?_

Not knowing about Astrid's thoughts, the other two walked further into the market. Hiccup pointing things out that Toothless already knew about but seeing them from his new perspective was interesting, and Hiccup was also pointing out the letters, making sure that nobody heard him. Since Toothless had a hold of everything else, he figured learning to read would be the next step. What he didn't know was that Toothless was completely ignoring him. There were dragons milling around him, staring at him confused and cocking their heads. He saw that they were starting to come closer, and that more were coming into the center of the village where he and Hiccup were and crowding it, causing several of the shopkeepers to yell at them, but they paid no mind, just staring at Toothless. Finally, a Monstrous Nightmare came up, and Toothless recognized her immediately.

"_Toothless?" _Fireworm asked hesitantly. All the other dragons behind her watched. Toothless froze unsure of what to do. Hiccup had not told him what to do with the other dragons.

Finally, Hiccup began to notice that he didn't have Toothless' attention, and turned, ready to scold him, when he noticed the crowd of dragons forming and the disgruntled shopkeepers complaining about how much room the dragon's were taking up.

"Heh heh heh... Hiccup said, scratching the back of his neck, looking from Toothless, to the dragons, and back again. "Well, looks like you guys noticed we have a new face in town!" He said, waving his arms sporadically at Toothless, making him look like he was having a localized seizure. "This is Einarr...and don't worry about him guys! My dad is already keeping a close eye on him!" Hiccup said, his voice beginning to squeak. He said the last part moreso for the people who were beginning to notice Einarr instead of the dragons. Finally, Hiccup brought his arms down and looked to the ground, biting his lip, then looking back to the Monstrous Nightmare. "How about I check your saddle later, Fireworm?" He said. The other dragon nodded its head slightly and the other dragons began to disperse. Hiccup was apparently going to tell Fireworm what was going on and news would spread to them fast enough. Hiccup let out a deep breath once all the dragons were going their own ways before he turned back to Toothless.

"That was close." He said simply. "Let's...go to the clearing. I feel like taking a break from the village." Toothless nodded his head eagerly. He wanted to get out of here.

As the other two were leaving the village, Astrid was keeping a close eye on them.

"Why did all the dragons look at Einarr like that?" She whispered to herself. She saw that Hiccup and Einarr were already leaving the village and she wondered for a moment if she should follow him or not, when Gobber came up to her.

"Oy! Astrid! Come 'ere a sec!" He shouted at her, waving his artificial limb from the shop. When she walked over, she saw that he was holding something she didn't recognize in the hand that he still had. She figured it was a work in progress. She looked the older man in the eye.

"Yes Gobber?" She asked, crossing her arms again, but this time without lifting anything.

"I was wondern' if you could get Hiccup for me. I want to show him somethin'." She wanted to say no to his request, she wasn't an errand girl. That sort of job...well, that sort of job belonged to Hiccup. She was about to talk him into making someone else do it, when she realized that if Hiccup came up here, then that would make him leave Einarr's side. She smiled up at Gobber, making him nervous.

"Sure thing."

She turned around in the direction she saw the two headed, and sucked in a breath, she didn't see them anymore! But she shook her head. Chances were they were going to the clearing. Hiccup always felt the most comfortable there, and it would make sense that he would take his new...friend... there with him.

She started running towards it and when she made it, she wanted to pump her fist when she realized she was right. Hiccup was just to predictable. It was another reason that they never would have worked out. She needed spontaneity in her life. She watched as the two of them sat at the water's edge and Hiccup was throwing his head back laughing at something Einarr said. She rolled her eyes at Hiccup's obvious display of trying to get someone to like him by over flattering the other person.

_Honestly Hiccup..._ She thought to herself. She shook her head, and entered the clearing.

When Hiccup and Toothless reached the clearing, sometime before Astrid, they both sat by the water's edge, both silent.

"Did...Did the dragon's recognize you?" Hiccup asked. Toothless nodded.

"I probably smell the same." He said simply. He was playing with the sleeves on his shirt. He heard Hiccup let out a breath.

"You don't think that there's a way for the dragons to blow your cover, do you?" Hiccup asked. Toothless shrugged, not seeming worried.

"Probably not. When it comes to people who understand dragons, you are probably the only one that would pick up on something like that." Toothless said, looking at him. He leaned back, propping his upper body up with his arms. "Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

"Do I seem different to you? Besides the obvious." He asked, looking up at the sky. He didn't want to see Hiccup answer this question. He didn't know why but this question was going around his head for a while and it wouldn't leave. It was making his nervous. He heard Hiccup snort though, and he looked at the boy who was grinning at him like _he _was an idiot.

"Hardly. You're still the same sarcastic jerk you always were." Hiccup said, throwing his head back and laughing when Toothless sat up and pushed him harshly, trying to make him go into the lake.

"How did you know I was sarcastic? You couldn't even hear me talk!" Though Toothless knew that Hiccup was telling the truth. It still amazed him just how much they understood each other, even without words.

They both immediately stopped what they were doing when they heard someone enter the clearing. When Hiccup saw that it was Astrid, he cursed under his breath. Toothless smirked at this, hearing his little human do something so out of character for him (unless he was in the forge, then cursing was quite a common trait for Hiccup). He looked back to the girl though and glared at her, moving closer to Hiccup.

"As-Astrid! Hey! Astrid! Um, what are you doing here?" Hiccup asked. Toothless rolled his eyes. That wasn't suspicious at_ all._

"I came to get you. Gobber needs you in the forge." She said. Hiccup blinked at her for a moment, then looked back at Toothless, then back to Astrid.

"Erm... okay. Tell him I'll be there in a second, I just have to get T-Einarr back to my house and then I'll-"

"Don't worry about Einarr." Astrid interrupted him, waving her hand as if to ward off any of his other words. "I can lead him back."

Hiccup swallowed and looked back at Toothless. Toothless was still glaring at Astrid though, not trusting her, even though he didn't really have a reason why. Except for that whole, trying to kill him, hurting Hiccup, leaving Hiccup... actually, Toothless decided he had plenty of reasons for not trusting her.

Meanwhile in Hiccup's head he was wondering what he was going to do. If he told Astrid not to worry about it, she'd think that that was suspicious...and it kind of was. He also knew that she wouldn't get off their backs if she didn't get to speak to Einarr alone.

"Erm...okay," He said. Toothless snapped his head back to look at him, "but just make sure that you get him back to my house as quickly as possible, okay? My dad will want him to be there if I'm not with him so...yeah." He finished lamely. He heard her huff, but she nodded and he let out a breath. "See ya in a bit, bud." He whispered, "and be careful." He added as an afterthought as he stood up and wiped the dirt and grass from his pants, leaving Astrid alone with Toothless.

Toothless was starting to feel nervous as the girl walked closer to him and sat down beside him. She smiled up at him, one he recognized from when she and Hiccup were dating, and his guard went up.

"Hi Einarr. I'm Astrid." She said, repeating what she said earlier.

"I know." Einarr said simply. "You've already said this." Astrid nodded at him.

"Yes, but you and Hiccup took off so suddenly that I didn't really get the opportunity to say much else."

Einarr didn't want her to say much else.

"That's...fine." He was trying to find some reason to get away from the girl when, "How about you lead me to Hiccup's home?" He was happy when he thought of this, but it died quickly when Astrid shrugged.

"I'm sure that we'll be able to get there soon enough. Hiccup's slow and depending on how long he takes in the shop, he won't notice if you're back a little later than he would like."

Einarr glared at her, but she didn't notice.

"So..." She said suspiciously, "Why are you here?" She asked. "I find it strange that the chief would have a guest in his home and leave _Hiccup _to be the one escorting him around. Where are you from?"

Einarr's mind suddenly blanked. _What was my story again?_ He thought. It came to him then, making him lose some tension. He didn't know that Astrid had saw him tense up, and then calm back down. She looked at him, watching his face closely to see if she could catch him in a lie. She really wanted him to be safe and not a spy or something. There weren't many other vikings in the village and if she could, she wanted to grab this new addition to Berk (if that is what he was) before any of the other females could. She could already tell that he was different and she admired that.

"I'm from...another tribe. Pretty far away from here." He said. Astrid wanted to hit him. Why didn't he speak more? Why did he always have such tiny answers? She knew he talked more to Hiccup.

"And?" She asked. "Why are you here?"

"Because... I heard about the dragons. That they lived here in peace, with the humans. I wanted to see for myself." Einarr had to admit, when Hiccup came up with this story earlier, it sounded pretty flimsy, but when he said it out loud himself, it actually sounded pretty good and believable. Even Astrid was nodding with it.

"I can see that. But where are you from exactly?" She scooted a little closer to him and Einarr wondered what he should do. He scooted a little bit away from her, hoping that she wouldn't notice. She did, but didn't do anything further.

"Another tribe, pretty far off." He shook his hand in a random direction. "I heard rumors that this is where it all started. My people haven't accepted dragons, and I was curious to see if the rumors from neighboring tribes were true." He then realized a reason why he and Hiccup would have been spending so much time together. "Hiccup...fascinates me. He did this." He finished. He really hoped that she didn't ask anymore questions.

"What is your village, or home or whatever, called?"

_Damn._

"You wouldn't have heard of it..." He was stalling for time, trying to come up with something but drawing blanks. This type of stuff was Hiccup's forte, not his.

"So? That doesn't mean I don't want to know. You came to this island, hoping to see something new because you were curious, you should appreciate that trait in others." He turned to her after she said this and saw that she was grinning at him, teasing him.

"Erm...yes. I guess I shouldn't."  
>"So...?"<p>

"So what?"  
>"What is your village called?"<br>"Oh, that." He racked his brain for something, but then not really coming up with anything original, he just used the last part of his breed's name. "Fury."

Astrid looked confused at the name. "Fury? Why in Odin's name would someone call their home 'Fury'?"

Einarr knew he wasn't being reasonable, especially since Fury wasn't his home, or even a real place as far as he knew, but she didn't need to insult it like that. And so what if he named it after Night Fury? He was just happy that he left out the 'Night' in the name.

"Do you have a problem with the name?" He asked. Astrid shrugged, and grinned at him again. She tried to scoot closer and this time she succeeded. He didn't realize how close he was sitting to a boulder, but now it was painfully obvious since he was about an inch away from it, and Astrid was very close on the other. He didn't want to cause her any alarm. Hiccup and Stoic were both adamant about staying low and 'hiding' as much as possible, and angering Astrid, a girl known for spreading news (not gossip, but when she was angry, she was spouting whatever was wrong at the top of her lungs) would not be the best way to do that.

"Why don't you tell me why it was named that?" She asked. Her voice was sweet. Not fake sweet, but the sweet he used to hear her use when she talked to Hiccup a few years ago, and sometimes her parents. It was the voice she used whenever she wasn't trying to act tough. It was making Einarr nervous.

"Umm..." He said. He really needed to find a way out of this situation. _Why did you leave me here Hiccup? _He growled in his mind. He could really use his friend right about now.

**A/N: **Just to let you know, in case you didn't notice, I'm typing Toothless when he's around Hiccup or Stoic, but Einarr when he's around everyone else. Also, review and tell me if the story is making sense to you so far – I know what the story is, but I want to know if I'm explaining it well enough that everyone else is getting it.


	8. Flight and Brisingamen

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

**Chapter Eight: **Flight and Brisingamen

Hiccup was looking blankly at Gobber, who was grinning before him, holding a new tail fin for Toothless. It really was gorgeous, obviously something to be proud of, and he could tell that Gobber put a lot of work into it, and with Hiccup in mind. The tail fin was green instead of red as it had been the last few years, and instead of a skull on it, Hiccup saw that Gobber had carefully drawn a book.

Hiccup didn't know what to feel. He knew he should be thrilled – Gobber had done this for him out of the blue, and he didn't have to do it. He thought that when Astrid came and got him, that Gobber needed some help in the shop. He gingerly took the tail fin from him, his face going from blank to awe. He knew that Gobber had hidden talents and one of them was drawing. It was Gobber who showed Hiccup the finer details of line drawings. Shading Hiccup had to figure out on his own, Gobber never bothered as the things he drew were usually new weapons or some interesting new designs for the ships. The fact that he would take the time to make something so specific for Hiccup... Hiccup was amazed.

Gobber however was impatient. Hiccup was staring at the tail fin with his mouth open, and while he took that as a good sign, he still wanted to know what he thought. "Well?" He asked. Hiccup was now _petting _the tail fin lightly. He looked up at Gobber smiling as brightly as Gobber had ever seen him, at least without Toothless at his side.

"This is great! I can't wait to try this on Tooth-" He stopped and his face drooped. The tail fin would be quite useless on a human.

"Hiccup – whats wrong?" Gobber put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "Is there somethin' wrong with that dragon for yours?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No...you see, Toothless... he went looking for a mate. He won't be back for a while." Hiccup lied and felt awful. He knew that saying this to Snoutlout or Ruffnut or even Astrid, he wouldn't have felt the guilt he was feeling now. He was lying to _Gobber. _He felt his chest tighten and though he didn't want it to, a tear fell out. _Toothless is a human and I'm lying to Gobber – Odin, what type of horrible person am I? _He didn't get an answer, but he was brought out of his musings when Gobber looked as though he wanted to hug Hiccup, or something, but decided against it.

"Ahh, that dragon of yours, wants to get some action, eh? How'd you know what he was going to do? Oh wait! I forgot who I'm talking to, Hiccup! The dragon tamer! That's sad about Toothless though" He chuckled sadly. He looked him in the face. "Can't say I blame him for leaving him for that reason. Surprised he didn't take ya with, but then maybe he wouldn't be able to..." Gobber trailed off awkwardly, and began to look embarrassed. Hiccup was perfectly fine, and even prayed that Gobber would not finish that thought. "Well, never mind about that!" _Oh, thank Odin! _"Eitha way, when he returns, we'll have this waitin' for him, won't we!" Hiccup smiled at that and Gobber smacked him on the shoulder which sent Hiccup careening forward but Gobber caught him before he actually fell on the ground. "You needta get some meat on ya bones, boy!" He joked. "Why don't you take that tail fin of yours and put it somewhere safe, eh?" Hiccup smiled up at him sadly, and turned to walk away when Gobber asked him a question that made him begin to sweat nervously.

"Ay, wait a minute – how did Toothless leave the island if you aren't with him?" He asked. Hiccup slowly turned around, coming up with an answer.

"Last I saw he was walking West. I don't really know what he's planning." He finished lamely. "I know a lot about dragons, but when it comes to the mating," Hiccup shrugged, "that's something Toothless and I _don't _talk about." Gobber nodded sagely.

"I understand completely." He ushered Hiccup off then, telling him again to put the new tail fin someplace safe. Hiccup nodded at this, and after saying their goodbyes, Hiccup hurried to the house. If Astrid and Toothless left the clearing soon after he did, they should be back there by now, especially with how slow he still was with his prosthetic, it was tough getting through the foilage sometimes.

He climbed the steps to his home, feeling worried. Everything was to still. His father was on the boats he was sure, so he wasn't expecting him there, but surely Toothless would be making some noise...

He opened the door and walked inside. He put the tail fin onto the table and yelled.

"Einarr? EINARR!" He didn't want to yell Toothless' name just in case someone overheard, but it was silence that greeted him. He crossed his arms, and began to feel angry, not a very common emotion for him.

"Astrid..." He said angrily. He turned around, marching determinedly out the door. He wasn't sure what he could do to Astrid, but she'd better watch out when he figures something out.

At the clearing, Einarr was praying for a miracle that would get him out of this mess. Astrid was talking, and he was happy about that, it meant he didn't have to come up with lies, which he really wasn't all that good at. _I didn't realize Hiccup was so good at something so underhanded! _But then he thought about when Hiccup had tried to lie to Astrid before, back when he and Hiccup had just met and how Hiccup lied to Astrid, saying that his secret was that he was making outfits. _Sometimes...he's good at it sometimes._

Astrid was still talking to him but he wasn't paying attention. For the first time he realized that his hair was in his eyes, his bangs or whatever. He began blowing up at them, trying to get them out of his face, when he was punched in the arm. It didn't hurt, _Hiccup you baby! _He thought in his head. He knew Astrid had punched him, something that the girl was very prone to doing whenever she was annoyed with the person. _What a fink. _He turned to Astrid.

"Yes?" He used a bored tone. Hiccup was not here to elbow him or pinch him or something to be 'nice'. He was going to take advantage of this. _Yep, Hiccup is the only person allowed to hurt me physically you silly fink! _He thought to himself, but then he reviewed what he just said in his head. _Wait a second..._

He was punched again, and he turned to glare at Astrid.

"WHAT?" She was glaring at him as well.

"You aren't listening to me at all, are you?" She said through clenched teeth. Einarr snorted.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" He smiled at her sweetly. It was like Hiccup had said, he was a sarcastic jerk. She glared at him.

Astrid was not happy about the way things were going. He was supposed to be at the very least talking to her, even if he wasn't all that interested. She also didn't understand why he wasn't interested, at the very least in her looks. She always got appreciative stares, even from the older married men (which she'd prefer not having look at her) and she knew that she looked good. Einarr however didn't even seem to notice. She knew that she was being vain, but it was still a new feeling for her. Not being the center of attention, not being the best fighter, not being noticed... she didn't like it.

"The fact you find blowing at your bangs out of your face a little more interesting than me. You do know that that is considered rude?" She crossed her arms again angrily. Einarr snorted at the rude comment. _Aren't we the little hypocrite? _Einarr looked at her, then back to his bangs then back at her.

"That's not true." He said, he really was getting bored from being around this girl. "I find you very interesting. Especially when you punch me. That's a great way to make friends by the way." Astrid was still glaring at him

"You have a lot of nerve talking to me like that." She pointed to him. He watched her finger warily as she waved it at him. "You don't know what I can do to you!" Einarr snorted.

"What can you do? I'm visiting from another land, the chief of this village already knows I'm here, the whole village probably knows actually. Doing something to me when I haven't done anything to provoke the attack couldn't look very good at all." He smiled sweetly again, "You don't want to be out of the village's good graces, now would you?"

Astrid smiled at him again, a smile that made Einarr worried. "All I have to do," She said kindly, "Is tell them that I saw you writing notes or something. Something that makes it look as though you're a spy." She looked to the sky as though she was pondering something. "Did you know that being a spy is punishable by death? We don't want the other tribe getting our secrets you know." She continued to smile at him, thinking that she had won. What she didn't know was that Stoic knew exactly who he was. If something like that did happen, he highly doubted that Stoic would have him killed...though the chief would probably like to see him as a prisoner. He frowned, _I probably should have tried to get along with Hiccup's dad better. And not eat his food. Or lie on his cloak and then refuse to get off it, or... _His mind drifted again, but then he thought back to what Astrid said. _Wait a minute..._

"You would sentence a man to his death because he wasn't interested in you?" His mouth was open in shock. "What type of person are you?" He asked her not expecting an answer. He didn't get one but her face flushed and he saw her hand go into a fist and rolled his eyes, _not again._

He sighed and waited for the blow, he noticed that this one was not going to his arm, but to his face. He quickly backed his head out of the way, but with Astrid's momentum, she went forward and her fist hit the boulder that he was sitting beside.

"Ah! You dirty, rotten-" She backed up, ignoring the pain and standing up, getting ready to do something else to him, he was sure, when he heard a voice echo through the clearing.

"Astrid! What are you doing?" Hiccup yelled. He was running to them, waving his hands. Toothless was worried, Hiccup was always at his clumsiest whenever he ran.

"I'm going to teach this scoundrel a lesson! We can't trust him Hiccup! He's a spy-" She yelled, but Hiccup was finally beside them, and pushed Astrid, causing the girl to fall on her rear. She looked at Hiccup, angry and surprised. "What are you doing Hiccup? Whose side are you on?"

Hiccup looked to the sky. "Astrid," He tried to say calmly, "It doesn't matter if To-" He felt Toothless pinch his leg, "-Einarr is a spy or not. Last time I checked, you weren't an elder or my father." He took his gaze from the sky and looked pointedly back to Astrid, "That means that it isn't your job to decide Einarr's fate." He sighed and turned around holding out a hand for Toothless to grab onto to help him up, then did the same for Astrid. "Go back before us Astrid," He sighed, "I want to talk to Einarr for a bit." She glared at him, "In _private._" She huffed and stomped off. Hiccup sighed and turned back to Toothless.

Toothless had at first been overjoyed to watch Hiccup defending him but now felt nervous, he sort of was egging Astrid on, finding her temper amusing. He knew that Hiccup wouldn't agree with this though and looked to the ground nervously. Hiccup's approval was really the only approval he ever looked for. He was surprised though by Hiccup's next words.

"You alright there bud?" He asked. "Astrid can be a bit much, but she's...relatively...harmless." Toothless didn't respond to words with this, just glared at Hiccup who shrugged. "Okay, relatively harmless except when she's trying to beat you to a pulp or kill you."

He did verbally answer this time well, he just pushed him lightly. "Hey-" Hiccup said before Toothless dragged him into a hug. Hiccup slowly put his arms around Toothless, taking in his warmth and finally putting his head against his chest.

Above him, Toothless was getting nervous. He knew what Astrid was doing earlier. He'd seen humans trying to get each others attention so that they could become mates. He figured that because he was a 'dragon' this wouldn't pertain to him – okay, actually he never thought about it until now, but still... he didn't think that those _feelings_ would happen to him. As he was holding Hiccup though, he was feeling warm, and while he initiated the hug, something he saw humans doing for comfort, or to greet someone, or just because they could, he knew that they eventually let go of each other, but he didn't want to let Hiccup go, but seeing as Hiccup wasn't pulling away or saying anything, he didn't feel the need to let go. He was used to feeling friendship for Hiccup, he still felt it, but there was something else there, and in the back of his mind he knew that his feelings for Hiccup were changing, but he pushed those thoughts back, not wanting to face them right now.

Below him, Hiccup was just as confused but he didn't know why, as Toothless did. His mind was also preoccupied with what Astrid had done , he shook his head though, not really wanting to think about that now. He heard Toothless snort, and still holding Toothless around his torso, he looked up and saw the taller of the two smiling down at him. He smiled shyly back, knowing something was changing, but not quite sure what. He also knew that they should really be separating from this hug by now, but he felt comfortable and Toothless wasn't doing anything so he figured staying where he was was just fine.

Hiccup didn't know why, but his mind immediately went to the gift that Gobber had made him, and he laughed bitterly. Toothless, upon hearing this leaned back, causing Hiccup's hands to let go of him, but Toothless kept his hands on Hiccup's shoulders, wanting to keep in contact with him.

"Hiccup, what is it?"

Hiccup swallowed hard and shook his head refusing to answer.

"Hiccup..." Toothless voice had a clear warning in it, and Hiccup sighed, answering him.

"It's, Gobber, he- he made you, me, he-" Hiccup rambled. It only stopped when Toothless put his hand over his mouth, then took it off. Hiccup took a deep breath before continuing. "Gobber...he. He made you a new tail fin. He designed it with me in mind, no skull and crossbones, no horrible scene, not even the crest of the village. He drew a _book _on it Toothless! A book!" Hiccup started to cry at the last part, and he was angry at himself for this. Toothless drew him back into the hug though and looked to the sky, not saying anything.

Then he started laughing.

Hiccup stopped crying out of surprise because of Toothless' action. He was slightly worried, and by slightly, well, he was worrying a lot.

"Toothless?" He sniffled. "Are you okay bud?" He asked again. It took a while but Toothless eventually stopped his hollow laugh, and Hiccup realized that Toothless wasn't happy. He looked as though something horrible had happened. Toothless didn't say anything. "Toothless?"

Toothless was silent, but he hugged Hiccup to him tighter, not looking him in the eye. When he finally spoke, his voice was despondent. "I figured it out Hiccup, I knew what she took." Hiccup looked up at him.

"What was it?" He asked and Toothless snorted.

"She took away my flight."

Hiccup leaned in closer then, resting his cheek back on Toothless' chest. He didn't feel like leaving that spot for a while, and Toothless didn't want him to.

Freya didn't know what was happening in Midgard though – didn't have the slightest clue really about what was going on. She wondered how the dragon and the boy were handling the whole not flying thing on occasion but really she paid no mind. Her mind though definitely wasn't on them right now. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the man before her, who was smirking at her smugly. He had long red hair, similar to hers, and a red beard and a muscular build, and held in his left hand was a hammer. Freya didn't care about any of this though. She was angry.

"What have you done Thor?" She yelled at him, her face turning red and her hands clenching, her nails digging into her skin. "What have you _done?_"

"Something you deserved! If you had simply gone and married Thrymr I could have easily gotten Mjollnir back-"

"EASILY?" She screeched. "Easy for you! I can't believe you did this! I give you my cloak, which Loki used to find your hammer in the first place, he asks Thrymr what he would like in exchange, then that, that jotun asks to marry me. Then what do you and Loki do? You march in here and tell me to put on wedding gown, so you could get your precious _Mjollnir_ back." she sneers this part, "Now let's see here, who lost Mjollnir in the first place, or right, _you! _Brisingamen breaks off of me at some point because of my anger-"

"You were angry..." Thor muses, but Freya continued on, not paying him any attention.

"So what does everyone do? They come together, _for you_, and they form a plan that to get Mjollnir back _for you."_

"You seem to be forgetting that had they kept the hammer, they would have left their home and be living with us!" Thor was almost yelling but Freya didn't care.

"The plan worked Thor! It worked! I helped you find Mjollnir, and you throw it back in my face!" She was breathing deeply now, glaring at him.

"That plan made _me _wear the wedding gown to look like you! The bloody fool was always casting me looks and trying to lift my veil to look at my face – it was torture!" He yelled, his hammer, Mjollnir, still in his hand. It hadn't left it since Thor had gotten it back.

"Even then I helped you by letting you _wear _Brisingamen! And Loki went with you as well! Thank goodness because if it wasn't for him your act would have failed! Loki dressed as a maid and every time you almost messed something up your 'maid' would make excuses for you-"

"That isn't what happened!" Thor yelled. "First off that fool probably enjoyed it! Secondly, Loki is the one that would have gotten us caught-"

Thor didn't get to finish. Freya pointed her finger at him.

"You liar! Loki can turn into anything, and has often turned into a woman. I hate to say this, but he knows how to act the part. You might have convinced the others that it was the 'O Mighty Thor' that saved Asgard from having Thrymr and his people living here, but I know better!"

Thor glared at her, but then smiled again.

"Doesn't change anything though." He said simply. "Brisingamen is currently resting peacefully somewhere in Midgard. I hope you have a fun time finding it – and just to let you know, you, nor anyone else of Asgard can touch it, and whoever grabs it has to give it to you because of their own freewill." He smirked at her. "Have a wonderful day, Freya." With that, he turned around and left leaving a very angry Freya behind him.

She was cursing Thor in her head when her thoughts went back to the dragon and the boy. She really shouldn't make her presence known to to many people, she thought, and since the dragon already knew who she was...

Freya nodded, her mind made up. It was time to send 'her' boys on a trip.

* * *

><p><strong>Norse Myths In this Chapter<strong> (so those who need to google stuff won't have to)

The story that has Thor dressing in drag is in the _poetic edda_. I'm getting all of my information off of Wikipedia...it's reliable, I swear . If you want to see what I'm going off of, go to Wikipedia, type in Freya, then hit 'poetic edda' (I'm not bothering putting in the chopped up URL, that gets to confusing for me).

_Mjollnir –_ Thor's hammer

_Brisingamen _– Freya's necklace

_Freyas 'cloak' _– Freya's falcon feather cloak, it turns whoever is wearing it into a falcon.

_Thrymr –_ king of the jotnar, or giants


	9. Changing the Deal

**The Sacrifice**

By TheFlyingPiggy

A/N: Ack! Got this out a little late!

**Chapter Nine: **Changing the Deal

Hiccup and Toothless finally let go of each other but neither were saying anything. By now they were sitting beside the water's edge, much as they were before Astrid came to join them. The silence was comfortable, with each of them lost in their own thoughts.

Toothless was beginning to think more clearly and realized that he was beginning to feel more attracted to Hiccup. He had never felt this way towards Hiccup when he was a dragon. _Is it because I'm human now?_ He pondered. He also found it interesting that he was attracted to another male, something that had _never _happened as a dragon. From what he saw though, dragons only mated to breed. _Why would I be attracted to Hiccup though? He's another male. It's not like we can produce any offspring, so what's the point? _He thought. He looked over at Hiccup who was skipping stones into the lake, lost in thought, his hair blowing gently in the breeze. _He has pretty hair._ Toothless was reaching out to touch it, to see if it was as soft as it looked when there was a faint whooshing noise behind them. Toothless stumbled up, but still got up before Hiccup, whose prosthetic had gotten caught in the mud. When the other was finally up though, they both looked to see what the disturbance was.

Hiccup saw a woman with long red hair and pale skin. He couldn't determine the color of her eyes, they seemed to change depending on the light. She was wearing a white gown with gold trimmings and a golden headband. He had never seen this woman before, but then-

"You're not Fireworm are you?" He asked. The woman looked at him strangely and he saw Toothless bring his hand up to his face. "What?" He asked them, annoyed and waving his arms, "The last time there was someone I didn't recognize it was _you!" _He was pointing at 's eyes widened at what he just said, unsure if the woman in front of him was friend or foe. She shook his head, smiling at him.

"I'm not 'Fireworm', I assure you. I have met you before, well, kind of. You were in the process of dying the last time I saw you." She said, still smiling at him kindly. Hiccup blinked. _The last time I was dying? What is she-_ Then it dawned on him just who he was looking at.

"Freya." He whispered. Without thinking about it, he grabbed one of Toothless' hands with his own, leaning in to the other's side.

She nodded. "I'm happy to see that you're awake and well. It's good to know that I still have my touch."

Hiccup blinked and said thank you quietly but Freya waved it off. "No reason to thank me, its that friend of yours who made the sacrifice. Which actually is why I'm here-"  
>"No take back!" Toothless hissed. He didn't want her to change him, if it meant that Hiccup would die. Freya just rolled her eyes.<p>

"I'm not taking it back, you beast. Well, not really." She sighed. "I'm willing to change the deal-" Toothless was about to interject but she raised a hand to stop him from doing so before continuing. "Hear me out dragon!" She took a breath, hating that she was going to do this, _Stupid Thor, stupid Hammer, stupid Odr, stupid Midgard- _"I will reverse your new form, giving you back your flight and all, I'll even give you back that tail fin you lost, if you find Brisingamen for me and return it to me. I won't kill the boy, this deal has nothing to do with him. That deal is done, sealed up, we both did our parts, and it's over. This is a new deal, on a completely clean slate. You find Brisingamen for me, and I'll turn you back into a dragon. What do you say?" She asked. She was somewhat surprised that the dragon didn't answer her immediately. He was staring at her wordlessly, both he and Hiccup were, and she looked down at their clasped hands, confused, but pushed any thoughts that came up from that aside. She looked back into Toothless' face.

"I need an answer soon." She said. "I don't know what Thor did with Brisingamen. He's not all that clever though...probably just threw it down someplace..." She mumbled to herself. She looked back at the two of them, and saw that they were looking at each other, still holding hands, but not seeming to notice. She sighed.

"Look, I'll give you an hour to decide-"

"An hour?" Hiccup protested, she glared at him, and he shut his mouth, not wanting to anger the goddess further.

"An hour. The two of you discuss this and I'll be back in an hour." She turned then. Instead of just poofing out of the clearing she decided to walk and look around Midgard. Most of her visits had her crying over Odr. Her anger at Thor though, was drying them up rather quickly.

Behind her, Toothless and Hiccup were still looking at each other, but neither saying a word. They had let go of each other's hands at some point, and Hiccup was twisting his in the bottom of his shirt roughly, and Toothless was turning his hands into fists and then back again, very similar to what he did when he first turned into a human. Hiccup was the first one to break the silence.

"Toothless – this, this is your chance! Not only will you fly again, but you'll have your tail fin back-"  
>Toothless shook his head. "I don't want my tail fin. Gobber made you that tail fin, and I want to wear it." He looked at Hiccup, "<em>If<em> I accept this deal. I'm not sure that I will."

Hiccup's hands dropped to his sides, and at first he looked confused, but then angry. "Toothless! You changed yourself, for me! You didn't have to do that! A friend shouldn't have to have another friend change for them-"

"This is a little different then changing someone's personality or habits Hiccup." Toothless said dryly.

"I don't care! You still changed for me, changed your entire way of living for me," Hiccup stomped his foot down, his hands in fists and clenched to his sides. His face was scrunched up and his eyes were closed, he was trying not to cry. "You shouldn't have had to do that!"

"No, I didn't," Toothless hissed, Hiccup looked up, never hearing that tone before used on him, "but you know what?"

"What?" Hiccup asked shakily.

"I would gladly do it again. You're alive Hiccup. That is what matters most to me, I can live without flight, I'm not so sure I can live without you." The words came out of his mouth before he had a chance to ponder their meaning. He knew they were true, he only hoped that Hiccup only thought he meant this as a friend and not something more.

"You can't live without- but Toothless," Hiccup was crying silently now, and Toothless didn't know what to do. He knew his little human was emotional but it seemed to be worse lately, what with everything that was going on. Toothless hugged Hiccup again and felt the warmth return. Then a thought struck him. _I have to change back into a dragon. I'm starting to feel for Hiccup in ways that I shouldn't...Even if he reciprocated the feelings, his village would exile him. There isn't a home with two males in it that aren't related somehow. I'm not sure that I can hide my feelings from the village, but I definitely won't be able to hide it from Hiccup. He knows me to well._

The boy in his arms was watching the turmoil on his face. "Toothless. What are you thinking about?" He asked. Toothless sighed and shook his head.

"Perhaps...perhaps you're right Hiccup. Maybe I should change back." He whispered.

Hiccup knew that he should be happy about this, thrilled, and a tiny part of him was. There was another part that didn't want it to happen though. Something was happening between them that he knew would change if Toothless turned back into a dragon. Hiccup nodded his head.

"You're going to accept her deal then?" He whispered. Toothless heard though and nodded.

"Yes."

When Freya returned, Toothless told her that he would go and find Brisingamen and give it to her. She clapped her hands in delight.

"Oh thank you! If you hadn't agreed to this, I don't know what I would've done. Now," She was holding something in her hands and she brought it to them. She handed it to Hiccup and when he looked at it he saw that it was a compass, something he'd seen when his tribe traded goods with the Polynesians, but something was off with it.

"It's not pointing north." He said. Freya nodded.

"No, it isn't. It's pointing towards Brisingamen. I can't get you closer to Brisingamen- well I could, I have the power to do so, but knowing Thor and his anger, I'm sure that he has something that will notify him if I'm using my magic to close to the necklace's location." Hiccup looked confused at this.

"I thought you said Thor just threw it into Midgard." He said. Freya sighed.

"I'm not actually positive, but on my walk I started thinking and if I'm right, the compass is pointing towards Jotunheimr. He's probably giggling to himself right now, throwing it right back to Thrymr!"

Hiccup's eyebrows came together, thinking, "Jotunheimr? The land of the jotnar?" He asked. Toothless was looking between Hiccup and Freya, now confused. He had never heard of Jotunheimr. Freya though looked pleased.

"Yes! You've heard of it? I didn't know that that many tribes still knew of them. They've been in hiding for centuries down here I think, or something like that."

Hiccup blushed when she said that, "I...I don't think anyone else in Berk does. I found these really, really old scrolls off one of the ships with a tribe we went to war with before I was even born, and I couldn't understand all of it, but what I did, it was talking about them and- I'll stop talking now." Toothless smiled at Hiccup, and rubbed his back lightly, showing his pride in the smaller human. He truly would make a great mate – _for someone who isn't me!_ He thought angrily at himself. _I need to find Brisingamen soon, I need to turn back into a dragon now!_

"Back to business though, Dragon, do you accept?" She asked. Hiccup looked up at him and Toothless nodded.

"I do."

**Norse Mythology** (for those who need it, but don't want to google, and for me, so I don't have to re-google)

_jotnar – _Very big and very strong. Giants

_jotun – _A single giant

_Odr _– (mentioned already...but whatever) Freya's husband

_Thor – _God of thunder...who crossdresses XD I need to find a full translation of that poem.

_Loki _– Loki is a giant or jotun, but lives with the gods.

Confusing things about Loki – He may or may not be Odin's adopted son. He may or may not be a PART of Odin. Loki may or may not be the Christian equivalent of Lucifer. D: So confusing!

Loki is a giant in this story that lives with the gods. Period.


End file.
